| |
Contributions from
the Column
Focus
A farewell
to old doctrines
Giving aid teeth
Europe’s soft power
Pragmatic approach
In defence of the World Bank / Book review
Fatal consensus
01/2005
|
|
Europe’s soft power
The European Union is often accused of being an indecisive, bureaucratic monster. This sceptical view overlooks the fact that it has actually been a highly efficient engine of peace and prosperity, cooperation and development. Its historic record is an example of the phenomenon Joseph S. Nye calls soft power: “an ability to attract others by the legitimacy of policies and the values that underlie them.”
In the 1950ies, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxemburg and the Netherlands pooled their sovereignty in several policy fields: coal, steel, nuclear research and agriculture. As the community expanded with more countries joining, so did its jurisdictions. Today, the EU’s second most expensive budgetary item is regional aid. Roughly one third of the annual 100 billion Euros the European Commission spends are bookmarked to improve the standards of living in member countries’ poorer regions.
Spain, Ireland, Portugal and Greece – all latecomers to the EU – have greatly benefited from this policy. The funds from Brussels helped them improve their infrastructures and, to different degrees, catch up with the wealthy founding members. Ireland has even overtaken all founding countries except for Luxemburg and now boasts a per capita income of 120 percent of the EU average.
However, it is not merely regional aid that makes the EU attractive. More importantly, the EU sets an example of various nations building a peaceful and prosperous community defined by the rule of law, social welfare as well as individual liberties. This model was of particular relevance after the collapse of the communist empire in the 1990s. The wish to join the EU contributed to most affected countries’ peaceful transition to democratic governments and market economies. People’s desire to join Europe similarly served as a motivating factor for the popular movement fighting election manipulations in Ukraine in the past weeks.
Last year, Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary and seven other countries (mostly, but not entirely from the former East Block) joined the EU. And even though the level of regional aid has been capped at four percent of any particular country’s GDP, Turkey is planning to join the EU too. Last month, the EU formally decided to start negotiations. While it is true that letting a poor Muslim country into the European club remains a controversial issue, it is also obvious that the EU’s “legitimacy of policies and their underlying values” are again proving decisive. For instance, Turkey’s human rights record has improved over the past years.
The final deal is not yet done. In order to really become a member, Turkey will have to enact European laws covering issues as diverse as environmental protection, foreign policy, health-and-safety at work and industrial subsidies. Negotiations are expected to go on for a decade and can still fail – for instance if Turkish authorities return to abusing human rights.
However, the chances of success are not bad. As London’s Financial Times wrote: „The idea 25 years ago that cities such as Barcelona or Bilbao – or Dublin or Galway – could soon be at the cutting edge of European urban chic might have seemed laughable. Perhaps one day the same might be said of Istanbul or Izmir.“ Indeed, one should not underestimate the EU’s soft power. Western European countries, that seem such a homogenous group now, were culturally and politically diverse in the 1950s, not only because they included catholic as well as protestant areas. More importantly, Germany and Italy had a history of aggressive, fascist dictatorships, with Nazi-Germany even occupying all other founding member countries during the Second World War. The EU managed to bridge such divides and later also succeeded in integrating Portugal, Spain and Greece after their right-wing dictatorships had collapsed. (dem)
|
